Sylvester Stallone is planning a Director's Cut of Rocky IV that may see the removal of its infamous robot, but doing so would be a huge shame and even bigger mistake. When Rocky debuted in 1976, it was as a rather "serious" sports drama - the film was critically acclaimed, and won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The sequel largely offered up more of the same, but subsequent installments, or at least those of its initial 5-movie run, started to shift the franchise and introduce some sillier aspects.
Rocky IV was a result of that, which saw Stallone's eponymous boxer face off with Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in what was effectively a Cold War clash. Among its rather more absurd elements was the introduction of a talking robot, which was gifted by Rocky and Adrian (Talia Shire) to her brother Paulie (Burt Young) for his birthday. Undoubtedly of its time, Stallone has said that the robot will be cut from the Director's Cut of Rocky IV (a release designed to celebrate its 35th anniversary), and while it's somewhat understandable that he might choose to do that, it would be removing some of what makes the film so great.
While it's a little difficult to argue that the robot looks good now (if it ever did), the presence of it is all part of the charm and air of ridiculousness that helps make Rocky IV such an enjoyable entry in the franchise. The film is the one that, in the wake of moving away from the first film's tone, truly embraces its own heightened sense of self; the movie is a rather absurd joy, and the robot is a perfect example of that. The robot is very much a bizarre product of the 1980s, but to remove it misses the point that so too is Rocky IV in its entirety. Stallone may have taken the entries in the saga since he revived it with Rocky Balboa back into its more grounded, dramatic arena (to an extent, at least), but that doesn't mean the same should retroactively apply to Rocky IV.
The robot isn't just a shining highlight of Rocky IV's 80s weirdness, but of Rocky and Paulie as characters too. Rocky is extremely well-meaning, but he's also not necessarily the smartest person going, and him buying the robot plays into that. The same can be said for Paulie and his acceptance of the robot: it's a little bit nuts, yes, but it is also completely in keeping with who they are and the relationship audiences see develop between them. To cut the robot is to lose part of that dynamic, too, and ultimately part of the heart of what makes Rocky IV so great.
Although Stallone may no longer be a fan of the robot, the difficulty is that removing it wouldn't automatically make Rocky IV into a more credible drama. The rest of the action, training montages, and overarching story still feel far more heightened from the likes of Rocky and Creed. With the robot and its other whacky elements, Rocky IV in part succeeds by going so all-out, so it'd be left somewhere in-between without it, and a lesser film all-round.